Mumbai: Is the Development Plan 2034 scrapped or not, ask corporators

That was the question on everyone’s lips during a heated argument in the standing committee yesterday, with corporators demanding to know whether the plan had been scrapped or was merely going to be corrected and released again

While the Chief Minister has announced that the BMC will have the final say in the city’s development plan, the corporators themselves remain uncertain about the way ahead. Confusion reigned in the standing committee yesterday, as corporators from all parties argued about the Development Plan 2034, with most of them demanding to know whether or not it had truly been scrapped.

Opposition leaders alleged that the CM had made the announcement to score brownie points

mid-day had pointed out in an earlier report that although the common perception was that the controversial DP had been scrapped, an order from the Urban Development department revealed that, in reality, the same plan would be re-released four months later with a few corrections.

mid-day’s report on April 25

Yesterday, this became the subject of a heated argument in the BMC, as corporators demanded a clarification from the Additional Municipal Commissioner. The BJP was alone in its claims that the DP had indeed been scrapped. The opposition insisted that this was not true, and even the Shiv Sena BJP’s partner in the corporation leadership agreed, saying that that it was not possible for the civic body to come out with a fresh DP in four months.

Samajwadi Party group leader, Rais Shaikh, cited the circular from the Urban Development department and said that the CM was fooling citizens by saying he had scrapped the DP when it would merely be corrected. This was echoed by opposition leader Devendra Amberkar, who alleged that the CM had made the announcement to score brownie points.

BJP group leader, Manoj Kotak said, “The DP has been scrapped and a new DP will be published.” However, the additional commissioner later refuted this claim, only adding to the confusion. This does not bode well for the DP, which has to first pass through the standing committee, which is currently waiting for an official clarification on the matter.

‘Not scrapped’Additional Commissioner of BMC, Sanjay Deshmukh, told mid-day, “The draft DP cannot be scrapped. We have four months to work on it, and for the next two months, we will call for suggestions and objections from the public. The new DP will be released after that. There is no confusion.”

Voices

Trushna Vishwasrao, House leader and Sena corporatorThe CM didn’t scrap the DP completely because it would have been difficult for the BMC to come up with a new plan within four months

Sandeep Deshpande, MNS group leaderWe had asked the administration to clarify whether the DP has been scrapped or whether it is just being corrected, but we have had no reply from them. This is leading to a lot of confusion